Overcomer

SCRIPTURE: He who overcomes [the world through believing that Jesus is the Son of God] will accordingly be dressed in white clothing; and I will never blot out his name from the Book of Life, and I will confess and openly acknowledge his name before My Father and before His angels [saying that he is one of Mine]. Revelation 3:5 AMP

THOUGHT: You know, I don’t think I’ve ever written a devotion from the book of Revelation before, but the book is full of promises including it’s opening words: Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near (Rev. 1:3 NIV). Maybe I’ve just stayed away from it because I don’t want to get something wrong. It has seemed very mysterious and hidden, but even the potential of a blessing for reading it (aloud!) and taking it to heart is enough to keep me pressing in.

The promise for today speaks to us in our national and world moment. I don’t really like the word “overcomer,” because it smacks of behavior I practiced for the first 40 years of my life, the kind of blindly picking myself up and moving on, using a sort of “just do it,” or “get ‘er done,” mentality, consuming a lot of human energy with no spiritual depth. The kind of overcoming spoken of here, however, is a deep spiritual discipline. We are running for the prize of the upward call of God (Phil. 3:14) and want to “run with perseverance the race marked out for us,” (Heb. 12:1 NIV).” We aren’t running alone, like I used to. We are yoked up with the master overcomer, and he has muscles we never did.

This kind of overcoming leads to some very good results: high honors at the finish line, solid ink in the book of life, and what about this: hearing your name from the mouth of Jesus, declaring you as his dear friend and traveling companion, right in front of God and the angels. Can you imagine how that might feel? To be loved on, in public, by the most powerful overcomer of all? The very next verse of Hebrews promises that imagining such a scene will help us when we grow weary and lose heart. For the joy set before us, we’ll keep overcoming.

PRAYER: Thank you, God that you have promised good to those who overcome by faith. Help us today to journey ahead, yoked up with the master overcomer, and looking forward to your upward call.